COAST RANGE. The system of uplifts which extends along the Pacific Coast with interrup tions from southern California to the Strait of Juan de Fuea in Washington (Map: California, B 1). The name is also given to the range of mountains that defines the coast line of British Columbia and which is flanked by the Island Range on the west and merges into the Cas cades toward the east. The &est Range of the United States has its beginning in the San Jaeinto.Range of southern California. Thence the line of elevations is continued in a general northwesterly direction by the Santa Ana, San Bernardino, San Gabriel, and Sierra Madre ranges. and by the San Rafael Range, the last being joined by a spur of the Sierra Nevadas lying to the east. From this point (about lati tude 35° N.) northwest to the Bay of San Fran cisco there are two well-defined ranges, the one known locally as the 'Coast Range' rising abruptly from the shore line, and other (Monte Diablo) paralleling the coast but lying some fifty miles inland. Both ranges are inter rupted by the indented trough of San Francisco Bay.
Throughout northern California the Coast Range is formed by more or less disconnected mountain groups. which near the Oregon boun dary.diverge to the east and connect with the Cascade Range. Further north, in Oregon and Washington, the uplifts are less marked. the ele
vations averaging only from 1000 to 3000 feet.
The Olympic Mountains, however, near the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington, in clude several peaks of considerable elevation, the highest being Mount Olympus, with an alti tude of 8150 feet. The culminating points of the Coast Range are found in southern California, where are located San Bernardino Mountain, 11, 600 feet; San Jacinto Mountain, 10,987; Teha chipi Peak, 9214, and Mount Pinos, 9214. tn cen tral and northern California, the extreme eleva tions are attained in Mount Diablo, 3849 feet, and laqua Buttes, 3580 feet. Except in southern California, the Coast Range presents no marked barrier to the drainage of the coastal region. This is due both to the interrupted character of the range and to its low altitude. The principal rivers crossing it are the Chehalis, Colmnbia, Umpqua, Rogue, Klamath, Eel, Sacramento, and Santa Maria. The Salinas River occupies the valley between the parallel ranges of southern California and flows into the Bay of Mon terey. See topography of CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WAsuticirrox; and for Coast Range of British Columbia see topography of BRITISH COLUMBIA.